Naam yi boon sik (2007)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Benny Chan

Writers:

Benny Chan (written by) &
Chi-man Ling (written by) ...

Release Date:

19 July 2007 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Action | Crime

Plot:

Three cops team up to bring down a criminal gang of seven, who have their own hidden agenda. |

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Nicholas Tse	...	Detective Chan Chun
Jaycee Chan	...	Officer Wai King Ho
Shawn Yue	...	Inspector Carson Fong Yik Wei (as Shawn Yue Man Lok)
Jacky Wu	...	Tien Yeng Seng (as Wu Jing)
Lisa Lu	...	Ho's Grandma
Andy On	...	Ronin Tien Yeng-Yee
Candy Liu	...	Ho Ka Yee
Elanne Kwong	...	Leung Hoi Lam
Sam Lee	...	Ho Wing Keung (as Sam Li)
Ken Lo	...	Wong Kam Ming (as Ken Low)
Vincent Sze	...	Tien Yeng Chi
Mei Wang Xue	...	Tien Yeng Yan (as Xue Mei Wang)
Ka Wah Lam	...	Senior Superintendent Cheung Man Yiu (as Lam Ka Wah)
Tak-bun Wong	...	Sam Mok (as Kenny Wong)
Mark Cheng	...	Senior Superintendent Mark Law Pui Keung

Also Known As:

Invisible Target (Hong Kong: English title)
Nan er ben se (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)
Invisible Target (Japan: English title) [en]
Invisible Target (France) (video title) [fr]

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violent content.

Runtime:

Australia:128 min (theatrical version)

Country:

Hong Kong | China

Language:

Cantonese | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Australia:MA | Hong Kong:IIB | USA:R | South Korea:15 | Malaysia:18SG | New Zealand:R16

Company:

Universe Films Ltd.

Trivia:

Benny Chan requests that no doubles are to be used for the film's stunt sequences. The actors in the film performed their own stunts.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): After discovering the unconscious man, officer PC 5299 fails to pinch the patient's nostrils closed while giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Plenty of Action As Criminals Take On The Hong Kong Police Force

Director Benny Chan and staff do a mighty fine job with their cops and robbers story, Invisible Target. Seven orphans who grew up in battle torn countries take on most of the Hong Kong police force. These orphans mean business as they go about their criminal activities. The movie is almost all kinetic action, chases where the actors seem to jump 20 feet down from roof top to roof top, as the HK police try to stop the gang from getting the loot they are after. There are dull sections,especially when Jaycee Chan is describing his bland philosophy of policing, but, hey, the Chinese censors won't allow movies to be released on the mainland unless they put the police in a good light.

In Invisible Target, you don't see any police (aided by goons hired by real estate developers) clubbing farmers whose land was stolen, so a new factory can be built, enriching the local Communist Party boss who gets an ownership share in the factory. In the Shanxi province that would be the brick factories that used kidnapped children and mentally challenged adults as slave labor. But dealing with life's grim reality in one of the world's great bastions of robber baron capitalism would be too dull for most viewers, besides getting the HK filmmaker in big trouble with the People's Public Security Bureau if he or she ever set foot in mainland China.

So Benny Chan and company go the crime drama route, with shootings, car chases and a great explosion sequence at the start that keys in a major plot element. If there is one thing wrong with this movie, it is another scene at the start where Jaycee Chan's cop gives a ticket to a guy for parking illegally, a big mouth who is out with his young son. When Jackie Chan's cop character in Police Story 2 stooped and ticketed a line of trucks (all Nissan trucks, then and now a Chan corporate sponsor), it showed Chan was no nonsense when it came to his job. Jaycee's parking ticket scene is a crummy way to introduce his character, people nowadays don't like cops or anyone else who gives out parking tickets.

Invisible Target is a good way to spend a little over two hours watching a very well made if improbable crime story.